Scott Thompson was one of Silicon Valley's luminaries -- the highly regarded president of PayPal who ascended to the top spot at Yahoo (YHOO) earlier this year before it all came crashing down. A computer science degree on his resume turned out to be nonexistent, and Thompson was shown the door after only four months.

But Thompson didn't just take his $7 million in walking-away money and retire; he's now running a tiny startup called ShopRunner, and spends his time schlepping around the country lobbying online retailers to sign up for his Amazon-like shipping services.

In his first interview with this newspaper since being booted from Yahoo, Thompson said he's not trying to prove anything -- he's just "fascinated" by the challenge of whether he can grow a 60-person company into something big.

Two-year-old ShopRunner offers what Thompson called "Amazon Prime for everybody else." Users, who pay a $79 yearly membership fee, get perks like two-click shopping and free two-day delivery from dozens of online retailers, ranging from Toys R Us and Anne Klein to smaller merchants.

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Thompson was well acquainted with ShopRunner before signing on: PayPal's parent, eBay (EBAY), owns a portion of the company after spinning it out from another e-commerce outfit the auction giant acquired in early 2011. An eBay executive sits on ShopRunner's board, although Thompson says his job doesn't necessitate close contact with his former employer.

Still, he said, "It's safe to say that I've known the companies and the individuals involved for a long time. The concept that became ShopRunner I saw early on, three-plus years ago." The startup is headquartered in Conshohocken, Pa., but a quarter of its employees -- including Thompson -- are based in San Mateo.

ShopRunner's founder told BusinessInsider in July that he'd tried to recruit Thompson when the latter was still running PayPal. After Thompson's stunning departure from Yahoo, the company tried again.

"They were at the point where they had some interesting traction and momentum," said Thompson. "They felt the right person could really turn this into a big business."

During Thompson's three years running PayPal, revenues more than doubled, surpassing $4 billion. That significantly fueled parent eBay's bottom line, and the day Thompson decamped for Yahoo, eBay's stock dipped nearly 4 percent.

"His set of experiences is second to none," said Eric Remer, CEO of a Denver startup called PaySimple that named Thompson to its board last month. "The opportunity to bring on a talent like Scott is an absolute no-brainer."

Thompson said PaySimple, which lets small businesses accept credit card, online and mobile payments and manage invoices and recurring payments electronically, is "trying to solve similar problems as PayPal, but they come at it differently. I know reasonably well how you can be helpful to small merchants that sell online."

Remer acknowledged having to weigh the Yahoo controversy as he considered adding Thompson to the board. "I talked to other people who know Scott really well," he said. "People who've worked with him and invested in him would do it again, without hesitation."

Thompson wouldn't discuss Yahoo, with which he signed a non-disparagement clause (and which paid him no severance, though he did receive compensation for unvested stock he left behind at eBay.) But in July, he told Bloomberg BusinessWeek that he's still "rooting" for Yahoo, and he praised the choice of former Google (GOOG) executive Marissa Mayer to succeed him.

Asked why he jumped back into the startup grind just two months after being forced from his last job, Thompson quipped that his wife asks the same question.

Martin Pyykkonen, an analyst with Wedge Partners who covers Yahoo, called Thompson "a very strong operational guy," though he also questioned whether Thompson's abilities as a visionary would have been sufficient to help the Internet pioneer discover new revenue streams. Now, in the resume scandal's wake, Pyykkonen said Thompson will have to rehabilitate his image before hoping to again take the reins of a large company.

"You have to kind of re-earn your stripes and your credibility and do something meaningful," Pyykkonen said. "If he can pull it off with a small company, maybe that leads to the next tier up."

But, Thompson said, "The only person I really need to prove anything to is myself. The jury's still out, but I'm having a great time."

Contact Peter Delevett at 408-271-3638. Follow him at Twitter.com/mercwiretap.